Home News Saturday News, June 9th

Saturday News, June 9th

Plymouth County Secondary Roads Dept Announces Construction Projects

(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department have announced some road closures due to construction projects. C-38 is closed from County road K-22 east to K-42 is closed for a paving project. Iowa Department of
Transportation officials have closed the intersection of County road C-38 and Highway 75 as road crews continue to work on the north bound lanes of Highway 75 between Merrill and Le Mars. However, the county road crews have changed
the detour for C-38. The detour route has changed as the intersection on the east end of the project is now open to allow K-42 traffic to go north and south. The detour is now from the intersection of K-22 and C-38 north on K- 22 to Highway 3, east on Highway 3 to K-42 and then south on K-42 back to C-38. The paving project is expected to be finished by June 29th.

Beginning Monday, a portion of 150th Street will be closed as grading work will get started. The initial work will begin from Highway 60 going east to Mesquite Avenue. 150th Street will be closed from Highway 60 east to the Landfill entrance. Access to the landfill will be from the south on Marble Avenue. That work is expected to be completed by September 28th.

On Thursday, the Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department closed down a portion of Nature Avenue to replace two bridge projects on Nature Avenue between 150th Street and 160th Street. Completion date for the two replacement bridges is estimated for November 9th.

 

Museum To Feature Exhibit Of Only Father-Son Dual To Serve On Iowa Supreme Court

(Le Mars) — Two attorneys who were the only father-son team ever to serve in the Iowa Supreme Court are the subject for a traveling exhibit now on display at the Plymouth County Historical Museum in Le Mars.
The display, featuring Justice Bruce M. Snell Jr. and his father, Justice Bruce M. Snell Sr., officially opened on the first day of the Le Mars “Ice Cream Days” on Wednesday, June 13, and will continue through June 29. The exhibit is located in the main hallway on the first floor of the Museum.
The Museum will host a reception for Justice Bruce M. Snell Jr. from 1 to 2 p.m., Tuesday, June 19. The public is welcome; a special invitation is being extended to Plymouth County attorneys.
Bruce M. Snell Sr. served on Iowa’s highest court from 1960 to 1970, and his son served from 1987 to 2001. Bruce M. Snell Jr. also was on the original Iowa Court of Appeals, to which he was appointed in 1976.

 

 

Estherville Police Investigating Death Of Infant Girl

ESTHERVILLE, Iowa (AP) – Police in northwestern Iowa are investigating the death of an infant from Estherville.
Estherville police said Friday that 11-month-old Jasmine Rodriguez Sebastian died Wednesday at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital two days after she was taken there for undisclosed reasons.
Estherville police, the Emmet County Attorney’s Office, the Iowa
Department of Human Services and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are investigating the girl’s death.  Police said no further information on the death would immediately be
released.

 

 

Regents Approve Tuition Increase

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – The Board of Regents has raised base tuition 3.8 percent for University of Iowa resident undergraduate students for the coming school year.
The board also raised nonresident undergraduate tuition 2.1 percent at its Thursday meeting in Cedar Falls.
The increases in graduate tuition rates depend on the students’
programs.
Regents called the increases necessary after two years of midyear budget cuts.

 

 

Regent Director Resigns

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Board of Regents has announced that one of its members has resigned.
Dr. Subhash Sahai resigned Friday, with less than a year before his term was set to expire. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Sahai was appointed to his seat in 2013. His term was set to expire April 30.
Sahai is currently the medical director of the Van Diest Family
Health Clinic in Webster City.
No reason was given for Sahai’s resignation in the board’s news
release announcing it.
Board of Regents President Mike Richards released a statement saying Sahai has been a valuable board member and that it’s “unfortunate that he will not be able to complete his term.”

 

 

Apartment Complexes Evacuated Due To Flooding

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Police in the northern Iowa’s Mason City say two apartment complexes near an overflowing creek have been evacuated.
Police say the decision to evacuate Autumn Park and Chelsea Creek apartment complexes on Friday came after nearly 6 inches of rain fell in the area, swelling nearby Chelsea Creek.
Police said the creek’s water levels were slowly receding Friday, but that the threat of more rain later Friday and Saturday still posed a flooding threat.
Because of that, the apartment residents were being asked to stay away from the complexes. Police say a Salvation Army emergency shelter will remain open until the threat passes.
City officials say water still covered low-lying roads in the city on
Friday.

 

 

Hubbell Favors Imposing A Tax For Water Quality

(Des Moines) — Fred Hubbell, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, backs an increase in the state sales tax to finance water quality projects around the state. The money would flow into a special state trust fund Iowa voters approved eight years ago, but state lawmakers have never approved the
three-eights-of-a-cent sales tax increase that would plug money into the account. Hubbell says that increase could be phased in over three years.

That’s because Iowa voters approved a constitutional amendment creating the fund, and specifying what the money may be spent on.

Hubbell opposes state limits on how much nitrogen and phosphorus may be applied to farm fields or urban yards. Hubbell says he supports the voluntary approach to reducing farm chemical run-off that state officials outlined five
years ago, but Hubbell says the water quality funding plan Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed in January doesn’t provide enough state money.

Hubbell says Iowa needs a “unified effort” to address water quality concerns.

Hubbell made his comments during taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program that airs Friday. Governor Branstad often said while voters in 2010 approved creating a water improvement trust fund, they did not vote to raise the sales tax. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll
conducted this past February found two-thirds of Iowans supported raising the sales tax by one percent to finance initiatives to improve water quality and mental health care options.
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